A Visit to Camp Hill Mall AND Capital City Mall

This is a tale of two malls that are quite literally across the freeway from eachother. One is thriving and doing well today, while the other has fallen short, and is little more than a memory. Join me for a double-feature that studies the last two malls of Pennsylvania's Capital Region.
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[@NathanDavisVideos]

Here's an interesting fun fact about the Boscov's at Camp Hill: Did you know that the 1987 film Mannequin had some scenes shot at this EXACT Boscov's! I believe in one part of the movie you can probably see how the old Camp Hill Mall looked like back when it was fairly new. Like the main mall interior entrance to Boscov's.

[@aidenharris4343]

The Mall interior was something else, right up until it was closed and remodeled back around 2002-2003. There was a canal in the center, very similar to the one in the Lycoming Mall, that ran the length of the mall. It had a waterfall at one end, numerous fountains. There was also a gazebo right over the water in one section, that’s where they’d set up for Santa’s and the Easter Bunny’s visit each year. It had such an 80s aesthetic, and it did have a lot of plants inside, giving it that earthy feel you described. It was remodeled again when I was a kid, and I haven’t been able to find any pictures of the interior myself since it was remodeled. I just barely remember what it looked like, and I miss it. Each mall in the area had their own style before 2000 or so, Camp Hill’s was beautiful though.

[@barbarabordner1676]

Revamp all malls!!!!!!!!

[@ddub9696]

Also worth mentioning that the Camp Hill Boscov’s was the filming location for the movie Mannequin. The store was the super modern 1980’s department store called “Ilustra”.

[@Luppay131498]

There used to be a pet store in the Camp Hill Mall whose owner had two of his own pet alligators right inside the store’s entrance. I was still a little kid when it was remade into a strip mall. There used to be a Zany Brainy toy store in the strip, too. Really weird but cherished memories from this mall. I was DEVASTATED when Borders closed. They left it decaying for several years before finally tearing it and the Bon Ton down.

[@philipmclaughlin9636]

Yes I remember that pet store!!

[@kathrynsaussy3855]

What a find. Thanks for this video! I grew up in the area in the 70s & 80s. Capital City Mall was a hangout in the 80s, it was just a cool place to hang with Spencer’s, the movie theater, a music shop and B. Dalton. As a kid - going to the movies was awesome, especially on sultry humid summer days, and that’s where I saw Star Wars’ “A New Hope” in a packed house, us kids fending for ourselves sitting next to strangers, finding a seat anywhere. With the music and bookstores, having that little bit of culture was nice. Malls today are devoid of this. lol. I recall the Camp Hill Mall as being dark in lighting, and having brown tones. There was a skylight by the food court, but even that seemed darker. I worked at Boscov’s in the Junior clothing department for a little over one year, in the very early 90s. It was hopping, for sure. The shops in the Camp Hill Mall just seemed sad and depressing compared to the Capital City Mall. Perhaps it was the mall decor influencing this impression. Thanks again for your informative video, and for a trip down memory lane. Nicely-researched.

[@jg2736]

I remember Camp Hill Mall very well, as well as this Boscovs entrance. The mall itself had a waterway/fountain, plants, a cool little food court with an amazing pizza place and arcade. I also remember the comic book store! Also, I thought there was supposed to be a placard at Boscovs mentioning it being the site of the Mannequin filming? I also remember Capital City and it’s food court, the 1-2-3 Cinema, and a Roy Rogers was where the Kay Jewelers is now. Man I wish there were pictures of both of these malls from that time period online :/

[@mikehaines5467]

I remember the Roy Rogers had saddle seats for the kids. Aka me then. Lol. Wasn’t there a Friendlys too ?

[@theincredibleimpression]

Ah my old stomping grounds! I literally watched the Camp Hill mall transition from a full fledge mall to a lousy strip mall! They used to have a great fountain just outside of Boscov's Also the movie Mannaquin was filmed there!

[@urbanlegendsandtrivia2023]

I love that movie! No wonder it looked familiar.

[@aidenharris4343]

I sorely miss the older mall, it was beautiful.

[@tedbrogan1]

You got it! They used the Boscov's store interior to film the "Illustra" chase scenes and the outside front door for when the main character picks up his girlfriend on his motorcycle.

[@pmcpmc8005]

I have some pictures of the Capital City Mall from the 1970s and 1980s I wish I could post on these comments.

[@rickurt4063]

I wish I could see that PMC PMC , as that is how I remember it growing up.

[@stephanie3848]

Can you post on Facebook or Instagram?

[@sirekumasutra7022]

CHM really reminded me of Centre at Glen Burnie in that just a corridor remains of the original mall.

[@tedbrogan1]

I once worked as a security guard at this mall back in he early 2000s. I was fresh out of Highschool and up to that point it was one of the best jobs I had because this mall was my favorite one to shop at the time. There were three main entrances in the front of the mall and one in the food court. It had a lot of smaller family owned stores as well as a candy store called Yummy Gummy Zoo. There was another candy store at the Boscov's end who's name I cannot remember. There was a Comic Book Store called Comix Connection and a rug store called Persian Carpet Caravan. There was a Faith inspired store called Abbey Inspirations, a shoe store called Plumb Bottom and another one called Naturalizer Shoes and even a Crabtree & Evelyn. It even had a sporting goods store called Shenk and Tittle that ended up becoming a place called Wildwear. The Food Court on the northern side of the mall was small but had a Subway Subs (now at the southern end), an Auntie Ann's Pretzels (what mall didn't) , as well as a pizza place called Zangari's, and even a place called Croissant Cafe. There was also a Wiley's Deli and a Greek place called Spyro's Gyros. There was a Family Fun Center in the food court too. I met a lot of good friends and even dated a few nice ladies while working at this mall and it is kind of bitter sweet to see how different it is in this day and age.

[@horbagger19]

Do you remember Panache, the leather goods store? My dad and I used to love watching the older guy crack the fancy bull whip in the store to attract traffic.

[@GenXKid73]

I miss the old camp hill mall. I worked in Artworks there. This place was totally ruined 😪

[@Mapmaker1559]

I enjoyed this slight spin-up from the usual format! About Camp Hill Mall, I'm just glad there's even a tiny corridor left. Most "de-mallings" are literally full mall demolitions minus the anchors. (Also, I love that Morch Kovalski song; cool to see you use it again!)

[@danielallyway]

Shopped there so many times!

[@jeremyud]

Capital City Mall has some decent parallels to Christiana Mall in Delaware. Both were opened in 1970's, both kept remodeling to the point that you really can't see much of the 1970's, both used the space of an old movie theater to build a new food court, and both thrashed a nearby mall to the ground.

[@evelcruzy]

Interesting that you say Christiana mall because I worked security at Capital City Mall for a couple years and recently did some work at Christiana mall. Both malls are beautiful properties today would have loved to see them back then.

[@keisenburg9828]

Camp Hill mall was a great place when I was a kid I remember throwing coins into the fountain outside of boscovs. And of course KB Toys

[@jeee1074]

The better looking malls always fall to the bland, soulless, boxes with no charm. Oh well, at least a piece of the old mall is in Boscovs now.

[@nathanhenderson353]

Kind of nice to see the hallway remain at least as evidence of its past life. I'm surprised you didn't mention that Sears actually has a prototype store at Capital City that opened. I could be wrong be I think the mall wanted Sears out and a compromise allowed Sears to open a significantly smaller Sears Appliance & Mattress store.

[@nikkireeexplores407]

Great video and cool music 🎶 it's been a while since I watched any videos but great job on this 👍👏

[@MrKGetz]

Sears didn't go out altogether. It became "Sears Appliance and Mattress", and in the same quadrant became occupied by "Primanti Bros" restaurant.

[@j.sayler6330]

The Camp Hill Mall, to my impression, was a clean, active, upscale space. It was full of shoppers, and I remember the many plants that almost formed a jungle in one area. Today, the Capital City Mall, just a few miles away, is doing very well and is as busy as malls used to be.

[@thefallengalaxy]

I remember the Camp Hill mall from 1999. Barely. You could walk around inside, but it's changed now

[@orangepentagon9730]

I remember when me and my friends went there and we got a reversible octopus

[@chinesefather7219]

Same but instead of getting a reversible octopus we explored the faculty corridors and rooms.

[@jamesb16616]

That Boscovs was used as the department store Illustra in the movie, Mannequin

[@4funJust4you]

The Capitol City Mall is like my favorite mall in Pennsylvania. Reminds me of those other mall in Maryland like the Valley Mall and the FSK Mall.

[@nancydarling4918]

Great video! Thanks!

[@steves_retail]

AWESOME JOB MAN

[@chapmje]

I always liked the Camp Hill mall. I worked there for a period and visited often. There was a an Italian place in the food court that had great meatball subs.

[@NightSprinter]

Always interesting that Boscov's always has neons in their stores.

[@chinesefather7219]

Me and my friends mess around here...

[@markstrouse3101]

Great great great great great Doomie Grunt

[@30roundz]

Both were decent looking malls👌 nothing special but not too bad either...

[@GhostofTradition]

I'm always surprised how busy both locations actually are to this day

[@MrKGetz]

I live approx. four and five miles from these malls in Fairmount.

[@XUltraPunchx]

That Camp Hill mall Boscov’s entrance seems to have a small door leading to the former interior of the mall. Considering they never demolished the building and just blocked it off I wonder if the fountain and storefronts are in there. 🤔

[@mikehaines5467]

Thank you. My child hood mall.

[@urbanlegendsandtrivia2023]

With all due respect, I like the second mall, but at age 58 I do love the 1970s. I couldn't find a Wikipedia page or Google reviews for the first mall, but the second mall has a Wikipedia page, and gets a fairly strong 4.3 for its Google reviews. By the way, a pretty famous incident happened near those malls in March of 1979.

[@SamKrepps]

The Camp Hill Prison riots. Nasty stuff.

[@shinshidoryu]

Yes, the Three Mile Island accident. I remember as an 8 yo looking down the street to see some folks in my neighborhood evacuating. I remember the Camp Hill Shopping Center before the mall very fondly. I remember the Kiddie City very well, and they also had a cool outdoor fountain with multi-colored bladed metal water wheels.

[@gott2641]

@@SamKrepps you're about a decade off-- the prison riots didn't happen until 1989. I know it well, as my mom and I were coming out of Toys R' Us when we heard all of the hullabaloo that was occurring at the time.

[@formerx]

@@shinshidoryu Yes! As I recall, they didn't run the pinwheel fountain very often because it splashed water all over the place. There was a SS Kresge store and Korvettes at the plaza. And Camp Hill Lanes bowling.

[@ladylandr]

I really wish you could visit the malls here in Miami Florida. I mean, no Dead mall youtuber has not visit Miami nor Broward County FL, Aventura Mall, the Dolphin Mall, 163rd street mall, Pines Mall, Sawgrass Mills Mall, and the Shops at Bal Habour. But I do enjoy your videos.

[@dvferyance]

I think the Capital City Mall could use a facelift.

[@barbarabordner1676]

Memories , please keep malls alive!!!!!!!!!

[@PatrickMcCardell]

Glen Burnie mall in Md did the same thing left a area of the mall too like that.

[@ericeckman9470]

You should do the Montgomeryville mall since it's up foreclosure

[@hannakinn]

Is a JC Penny's really still open there?

[@stephanie3848]

Yes at Capital City

[@hannakinn]

@@stephanie3848 Cool thanks. My mom is 90 she'd love for me to take her to a Penny's, she really misses her Sears, Penny's and Montgomery Wards stores. All closed in her area.

[@claudiaporr1247]

For the Camp Hill Mall Boscov's was on one end what other store was on the other end. A friend of mine is saying Montgomery Ward. I don't remember that being in there. Did another store eventually replace Montgomery Ward?

[@NathanDavisVideos]

6:11 - Was THIS originally the center court to Camp Hill Mall (where like the skylight is at?)

[@NathanDavisVideos]

ALSO I may have found a photo of the main center court to Camp Hill Mall before it was de-mall. It is probably one of the ONLY know photos of the mall when it was still an enclosed mall; and boy it sure does scream 1980s! I'll share the link to the image right below: i.redd.it/ptnmnh0pd6681.jpg

[@stephanie3848]

@@NathanDavisVideos Yes! I just found that picture today. I wonder if it was taken shortly before it was torn down since it looks like the stores on the sides are closed and just walls. Wish I would have taken pictures of it and also the old Capital City food court.

[@formerx]

@@NathanDavisVideos Love it! Thanks for the memories.

[@jh1328]

I worked at Cap City through high school and college. I can’t believe most of those stores are still around. It’s been mildly dead for over a decade.

[@stephanie3848]

? I was just there, it looks alive and well 🤷

[@barbarabordner1676]

It is alive keep shopping!!!!!!

[@mikekatz7980]

Can you explain the problems you had with security a little more?

[@UmutPotato]

Why I was just about to see sears and he skipped inside

[@4funJust4you]

Boscov's looks like JCPenney and Macy's.

[@antistrix]

My barber from when I was a toddler used to be in the mall. I wonder if his shop is still there or closed now..

[@antistrix]

stores inside: boscovs... aw man

[@andrewwiist1003]

If you are talking about the Camp Hill Barber Shop, they moved to a strip mall behind the Capital City Mall. There is now a Noodles and Company, and a makeup supply store there now.

[@flintfireforge7360]

Enjoy the turn signal music.

[@sutterpark]

Do you know both malls store brands don't have those brands any mor if you didn't know that! Really Why show store that doesn't show old brand store what USED to be in EACH mall stores and shop was in each location or you can see in few cases scares formally names that shows what used to be

[@larrieroberts9318]

Neither mall is appealing

[@DoomieGruntVentures]

I can understand that. Little is left of Camp Hill as a mall, and Capital City, while much better tenanted, is not really a looker.